Sometimes, life feels like we are standing on the edge of a heavy, stagnant pond, desperately trying to stir the water with our hands just to see some movement. We feel this immense pressure to force outcomes, to manufacture miracles, and to manually steer every single detail of our future. Richard Rohr’s beautiful words remind us that we don't actually have to be the ones pushing the river. Faith isn't about the sheer strength of our effort or how much we can manipulate our circumstances; it is about the quiet, steady realization that a current is already moving beneath the surface, even when we can't see the ripples yet.

In our everyday lives, we often mistake anxiety for productivity. We think that if we aren't worrying about the next step, we aren't doing enough. We treat our goals like heavy stones we have to drag uphill. But there is a profound difference between working hard and forcing progress. True faith allows us to lean back into the flow of life, trusting that the universe, or a higher power, has a momentum of its own. It is the shift from being a frantic swimmer fighting the tide to being a graceful traveler floating with it.

I remember a time when I felt completely stuck with a project that seemed to be going nowhere. I spent weeks staying up late, obsessing over every tiny error, and trying to force a breakthrough that simply wouldn't come. I was exhausted, much like a little duckling trying to swim against a waterfall. It wasn't until I finally took a breath and decided to trust the process that things began to shift. Once I stopped trying to control the outcome, the pieces started falling into place almost effortlessly. The current was there all along; I was just too busy splashing to notice it.

This doesn't mean we become passive or stop caring about our dreams. It simply means we change our relationship with the struggle. We can still paddle, but we do so with the knowledge that the river is carrying us toward our destination. We can trade our frantic energy for a sense of peaceful anticipation.

Today, I want to invite you to take a deep breath and let go of one thing you have been trying to force. Ask yourself: where am I pushing too hard? Try, just for a moment, to trust that the current is already moving you exactly where you need to be.